Vehicle headlamps are required to include both a low beam mode and a high beam mode. Typically, the headlamp includes at least one light source and a reflector to direct light energy in a desired direction.
More recently, light emitting diodes or LED's have been used as a light source in vehicle headlamps. Typically, a plurality of LED lighting modules is required to result in a desired light intensity. Thus, the headlamp may include a plurality of individual lighting modules having one or more LED light sources disposed therein. Additionally, each individual lighting module typically has a dedicated function such as beam spread, hot spot, or cut-off, for example.
In prior art headlamps, to reach a desired intensity the number of LED lighting modules may approach 10 modules for the low beam mode, and 12 for the high beam mode. Each module also requires some form of thermal management. Thus, a large volume is required to package the lighting modules. As the desired requirements for headlamps continue to increase, the packaging volume requirements also increase. This results in additional space requirements in a vehicle, which is undesirable.
It would be desirable to produce a headlamp for a vehicle wherein the headlamp facilitates an economic and an efficient use in both a low beam mode and a high beam mode.